


Rewritten

by PersephoneQueenOfDeath



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action, Adventure, Albus Dumbledore Bashing, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Fix-It, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Magic, Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Time Travel, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 14:35:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21495880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PersephoneQueenOfDeath/pseuds/PersephoneQueenOfDeath
Summary: The future was in shambles so they did the only thing they could. They went back to the past to change everything. They just weren't exactly prepared for how their appearance would change the storyline they had grown to know but anythin had to be better than what they had lived through. Right?
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've been working on several fics lately and have decided to go on a posting binge. This is one of my HP fics and I hope you enjoy it. Pairings are a surprise and will be learnt as you read this story. I hope you guys enjoy. P.S. I own nothing except my OC's everything else belongs to Rowling and I can't say how thankful I am to her for sharing this world with us.
> 
> Much Love,
> 
> Persephone.

**Prelude**

Her heart was thumping so loudly she was almost deaf to the sounds of the Snatchers chasing her. She was almost deaf to the sounds of her two companions as they ran either side of her. She was almost deaf to the sounds of spells being fired in rapid succession. Almost. But almost wasn't good enough. She could still hear it all, it was simply muffled by her beating heart and the blood rushing through her body.

Wild red curls were singed and mattered; a combination of barely dodged spells and weeks on the run. They were three, high value targets who the Snatchers were eager to get their hands on. They knew what it would mean too. If they were captured, they'd be killed but not before they were very publicly tortured. The Snatchers would take them to the Death Eaters who would happily make an example out of them to whoever was left to oppose them.

Her russet brown eyes scanned the wooded area rapidly, searching for anything that could help them. Her mind worked quickly, playing through every possible scenario in the span of a few seconds before she came to one conclusion. They were totally screwed if they didn't do what needed to be done soon.

"Rose!"

She barely had a moment to register his voice before she was being shoved out of the way of a Sectasempra that would have torn her in two.

"No!"

Alice's scream sent a cold sliver of ice straight to Rose's chest. She knew just how close the two of them were; if he was hurt, Alice would quickly become distracted. In this world, distractions got you killed.

Rose turned on her heels, her wand tightly clutched in her hand as she raised it in the direction of the Snatchers.

"Protego Maxima!" she yelled, barely paying attention to the silver bubble that erected around them. Alice was already on her knees beside him and Rose didn't hesitate to fall beside the both of them. "James?" she asked, watching as her cousin looked around blearily before his green eyes zeroed in on her.

Alice was already casting the counter curse, waving her wand and almost singing the counter curse as her eyes teared up and those tears fell onto James' dirty face. He'd live, they both knew he would. Each of them bore scars from one curse or another, curses that should have killed them but hadn't.

"We need to do it now," Rose gasped, her hand reaching into her jacket pocket as the Snatchers threw curse after curse at her shield. Her hand wrapped around cool metal and she quickly pulled out the small time-turner they had stolen from the Department of Mysteries only a few short hours ago.

"If we do it now, it could kill him!" Alice protested, her wand movements stilling as she finished the counter curse.

"If we wait, _they'll _kill all of us," Rose retorted as she extended the time-turner chain and threw it around Alice's neck before gently lifting James' head to put it around his neck too. "Remember," she began, pointing her wand at the shield and non-verbally strengthening it as she felt the Snatchers begin to tear it down. "This isn't like other time-turners," she continued, "it won't just take us back, it'll completely fracture this timeline and it'll take us to our closest blood relatives. We have no idea where we're going, or what situation we'll be falling into. Constant Vigilance."

James was groaning pitifully, his eyes closed and his breathing laboured. He was pale and sweating and Rose cursed that she had lost her beaded bag; the bag that had all their supplies including the blood replenishing potions. There was nothing more they could do to help James and she just had to hope he appeared next to someone that could help him.

Rose had just started turning the time-turner when she felt a particularly strong spell decimate her shield. She knew she couldn't fight, she needed to make sure they got where they needed to go. Besides, Alice was here and she and James were the better duellers; Rose was the brains, she had always been the brains.

"Stupify! Reducto! Bombarda!" Alice yelled in quick succession, sending out a few non-verbal curses after it as the Snatchers deflected her verbal ones. Rose didn't even wince when she saw one of the Snatchers exploded, his blood splattering his three companions as he did.

"Crucio!"

Rose felt her eyes well up as Alice moved to take the curse that was aimed at her, her body stiffening and bending at odd angles as she bit her lip. All of them had been under the cruciatus curse at one point or another in their lives but it was hard to build up an immunity to something that changed in intensity depending on the witch or wizard casting it. Alice didn't scream and Rose continued to turn the time-turner furiously. She needed to get them out of there. Even with as strong as Alice was, no one could stand being under the cruciatus curse for extended periods of time.

Even with the pain coursing through her body, Alice somehow found the strength to raise her wand and Rose felt the heat of the Fiendfyre leaving her best friend's wand. Screams filled the air and Rose almost gagged as the smell of burning flesh reached her nose. Alice had fallen unconscious on James' body and Rose knew if this didn't work, they would die here tonight. The Snatchers may not kill them but the Fiendfyre would.

She felt the flames lick her skin just as she released the dial and the time-turner began to turn. The fiery lion reared its head and with a mighty roar, pounced on the three teenagers.

Only to meet thin air as they vanished into the past.


	2. Chapter 2

**Alice**

Augusta Longbottom was a stern older woman but no one could say she didn't love her grandson. She had never been prouder of Neville then when he received his Hogwarts letter only a week ago; she knew he was going to do amazing things, just like his mother and father. As always, thinking about her son and daughter-in-law left a hollow feeling in her chest that was quickly accompanied by an all too familiar rage. No one deserved the fate they had suffered, especially Frank and Alice.

She watched Neville run around the grounds, chasing that toad his uncle had bought him as both a congratulatory gift and an apology. Honestly, whilst she was thrilled his magic had saved him, Augusta had almost had a heart attack as the events were unfurling.

Her entire body stiffened as she felt her wards shift and Augusta was holding her wand and running towards her grandson with a speed usually only found in younger witches and wizards. Neville had stopped playing, and even from where she was, Augusta could see his skin was quickly going pallid and his eyes were wide. He was standing before a small unmoving lump and the closer she got the more Augusta realised the lump was a body. The body of a young woman.

She had to be a Longbottom; there was no way the wards would have allowed her through otherwise, but Augusta couldn't recall any cousins, nieces, or aunts that looked like the girl before her. Still, family was family and this girl was obviously hurt.

Augusta felt herself go cold as she reached her grandsons side and saw the way the young woman was twitching in her unconscious state. It wasn't hard to see the signs of the cruciatus and familiar rage bubbled in her chest at the thought of another one of her family suffering through that infernal curse.

With all the grace of her Pureblood upbringing, Augusta fell to her knees before the young woman, her wand already waving in intricate motions as she cast non-verbal diagnostic spells. Of course, she had already anticipated what the results would be, but that didn't make her any less angry when they came back. The anger quickly turned to horror as the diagnostic spell continued to list all the injuries, both past and present, that this young woman had suffered.

The war had been over for ten years and this girl couldn't be any older than fourteen or fifteen; so, how was it she was covered in more scars and curse residue than Alastair Moody? _He_ was gone, his followers locked away. Of course, she didn't believe for one second that _he_ was truly gone and knew that it was likely he would rise again in her grandson's lifetime.

"J-James," the girl muttered as she twitched before the twitching turned into convulsing.

Augusta heard the little whimper her grandson released and snapped out of her momentary stupor. "Neville, go back to the manor and get Dipsy," she ordered gently but firmly. When her grandson made no move to do as she had asked, she looked up at him with slightly narrowed eyes, "now, Neville."

He was half running, half stumbling away in the next second and Augusta turned her attention back to the semi-conscious girl before her. She cast another spell and waited as a tree began to form over the girl's body.

Few things shocked or surprised Augusta but she felt her eyes widen further and further the more names that appeared on the family tree. When the young woman's parents' names appeared, Augusta almost lost her carefully constructed mask. Above her name, which had given her pause alone, were two names that really shouldn't have been possible because one was eleven and one had vanished from the world almost ten years ago.

She cast the spell three more times just to make sure what she was seeing was true. Of course, she should have known it was. The Longbottom's were one of the oldest Pureblood families in the world and their blood wards were almost legendary. Only a member of their family could have gotten past them and the delicate family tree that appeared over the girl's body was further proof of her lineage.

Her eyes were stuck on the names of this girl's parents and she didn't know what she was currently feeling at the sudden knowledge she now had. The familiar sound of a house elf appearing reached Augusta's ears and she turned to see Dipsy. She was relieved to note, Neville hadn't come back. She didn't want her grandson to see the girl in the condition she was in and she certainly didn't want him to learn what she just had.

Bad things happened to those who meddled with time and she wondered what had happened that was so bad, this young girl would risk the wrath of the ministry. Now wasn't the time to think on it though, she needed to get the girl inside and treated.

"Dipsy, take us to the guest suite please," she said softly, immobilising the still convulsing teenager so she wouldn't hurt herself.

"Yes, mistress," Dipsy answered before they disappeared with a _snap_, the wispy names slowly disappearing one by one until only three were left.

_Alice Longbottom II – Cassiopeia Black (Mother) – Neville Longbottom (Father)_

* * *

**Rose and James**

Molly Weasley was bustling around the large kitchen, preparing lunch for all of her children. Soon, her bustling house would be quiet as four out of her five children still living with her went to Hogwarts. She already had plans for her and Ginny but Molly was wondering what she was going to do when she no longer had a full house.

Arthur was at work that day, Percy was in his room reading, Fred and George were likely doing something that would get them in trouble later, Ron was waiting impatiently at the kitchen table for his food, and little Ginny was playing in the yard. Molly watched her daughter run around, her red hair flying around her face as she played. She smiled at her daughter when Ginny turned to face her, her blue eyes alight as a smile stretched her lips. She waved at her daughter when Ginny waved at her before the young girl went back to playing and Molly turned to continue with making lunch.

"Is lunch ready mum?" Ron whined from over near the table and Molly rolled her eyes.

"Are you eating yet, Ronald?" she looked over at her son who shook his head, "than it's obviously not ready yet."

"I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," Molly muttered as she waved her wand over her shoulder and heard Ron eating the large cookie rather loudly the next moment. Honestly, none of her children had much in the way of table manners but Ron took it to a whole new level.

The calm was quickly broken when Ginny's shrill scream pierced the air. Ron's head snapped up to see Molly already flying from the kitchen, her wand in one hand and her wooden spoon in the other. Her sons were quick to follow her out of the Burrow as they ran into the wheat fields. Molly moved the fastest, her legs pumping quickly as she raced to her only daughter.

They found Ginny standing in the middle of the wheat field, her small frame shivering and her features paler than usual. Molly ran to her daughter, stopping short at the sight before her. "Ron, take Ginny back to the house," Molly ordered gently, happy when her son didn't argue with her.

The mass of red curls could only mean the girl kneeling over the unconscious boy was a member of her family. She was cradling him close to her, her wand tightly gripped in her hand and the broken remains of a necklace around their necks. Molly gasped when the girl looked up, her blue eyes and freckled face so reminiscent of her children. "Please," she cried, her voice hoarse, "please, help him, I-I can't lose him."

Molly, maternal instincts flaring, ran forward, falling ungracefully to her knees beside the girl and the unconscious boy. "What happened?" she asked, watching as the girl held the boy tighter, pulling his body closer. Her whole body was shaking, her skin pale and sweaty, and her breathing laboured.

"He was cursed," the girl explained almost numbly, "we did what we could for him but he needs a blood replenishing potion."

"We?" Molly questioned, looking around for who could be included in the 'we'.

"A-Alice," the girl answered, "she's not h-here."

Molly nodded before she pointed her wand at the boy so she could move him, only to freeze when she found herself staring down the length of a wand. She hadn't even seen the girl move, nor had she seen the girl move the boy so she was crouched protectively in front of him. Her eyes were narrowed and slightly glazed, like she wasn't exactly there at the moment.

"I just need to immobilise him so we won't hurt him getting him up to the house, dear," she told the obviously distressed girl in a soothing tone.

"W-where are we?" she asked, her eyes quickly darting around the clearing before they settled on someone over Molly's shoulder. The girl's eyes welled with tears before she shot passed Molly. "Uncle Percy!" she cried, barrelling into Molly's surprised son who lost his balance and fell to the ground with the sobbing girl on top of him.

Molly was gaping at the girl, who had buried her head in her son's neck, her cries muffled as she clung tightly to Percy. She quickly turned back to the boy, immobilising him quickly before she levitated him. When Molly turned back to the mystery girl and her sons, she saw that Percy had managed to get them both to their feet though the girl showed no sign of letting him go.

"Mum?" he asked unsurely, his arms held out to his side awkwardly as the girl continued to sob into his shirt.

She shook her head, she didn't know what was going on and the girl was too distraught to get answers from at the moment. "Fred, can you-"

Molly was cut off by a sharp inhale, everyone turning to see the girl looking at the twins as she still clung to Percy. She let go of Percy and they watched as she took an unsteady step towards the twins who were watching her stiffly. "F-Fred? Fred Weasley?" she asked like she couldn't believe he was standing in front of her.

"Uh, yes?" Fred replied.

The girl looked to his twin, "G-George?"

George didn't answer, he simply nodded quietly. Molly had never seen her son's speechless before but she had no time to savour the moment as the girl turned to her. "Nan?" she asked, her eyes still dazed. Molly felt her heart stutter at the word; there was no way this girl was her granddaughter, none of her children were old enough. She was obviously confused but that didn't explain her reactions to her children.

She didn't have time to question the girl when her eyes suddenly rolled into the back of her head and the twins were forced to catch her as she fainted. Molly felt a mirade of emotions but the main one was concern. Just by looking at them, she could tell these teenagers had been through something horrible. "Let's get them up to the house," she said softly, the boy's unconscious form floating behind her. Percy surprised them all as he moved to lift the girl, taking her off his still speechless brothers.

"What just happened?" Fred asked as they were heading back towards the Burrow.

"I don't know," Molly answered her son, "but we'll find out once they've woken up."

"They look like they've been through a war or something," Percy commented.

Molly sighed, a heavy feeling in her chest, "I think they have," she replied morosely. She had noticed the destroyed time-turner when she had levitated the boy. These children had been through something so bad they had decided to meddle with time.

Now, they just needed to figure out how bad.


	3. Chapter 3

**Alice**

Alice came back to the land of the living with a pitiful moan. Her whole body ached and her limbs were stiff. _Where am I? _She thought, reaching for her wand only to freak out when it wasn't in the holster usually strapped to her arm. In fact, the holster wasn't even on her arm.

She sat upright, her entire body protesting the movement as she felt herself spasm. _Cruciatus cruse, _she thought, recalling jumping in front of Rose when that arsehole Dolohov had tried to curse her. She had wandered why Dolohov had been with the Snatchers; he was a high-ranking Death Eater and had no reason to be doing the work of 'lesser men'. Though, she knew Dolohov had always been obsessed with Rose, just like he had been obsessed with Aunt Hermione.

Alice looked around, spying her wand on the bedside table. She quickly reached for it, holding it tightly as her eyes continued to scan the room. She was laying in a large, four post bed, covered by lilac blankets with an army of pillows behind her. The drapes around the bed matched the bedding and were pulled back so the room was on full view to her critical gaze. Everything seemed to be made of polished oak; the bed, the bedside tables, the large ornate wardrobe in one corner of the room, and the lavish bookshelf in the other.

On instinct, her hand reached out for James, before she remembered he wouldn't have appeared where she had. They must have given her Dreamless Sleep because there was no way she would have stayed unconscious without nightmares if James hadn't been sleeping beside her. It had been that way since they were little, both of them using the other to try and chase away the darkness.

She slipped painfully from the bed, her whole body shaking as her bare feet met with the cold floor. It stung a little, the still healing cuts on her feet reacting to the change in temperature. Her body was screaming at her to get back into the bed and rest some more, but Alice knew better than to let her guard down. She didn't know where she was or where she had landed and she needed answers before her anxiety and the strain of the cruciatus curse crippled her.

Someone had changed her clothes and Alice couldn't remember the last time she had worn something so soft and not covered in dirt and blood. Her old clothes were tattered, almost completely useless and far too big. They were all so underweight, food a scarcity when you were running for your life. What little food they managed to find was rationed to last as long as they might need it and there were times where they went days without food before having a few mouse-sized bites.

She was wearing a pale pink nightgown that she knew had been magically shrunk to fit her diminutive size. It was cotton with small lace trim and had a delicate floral pattern that made her look younger than her fourteen years. Alice didn't stop to think on it too long, she needed to figure out where she was so she could begin finding James and Rose. If she was lucky, the two of them had gone to the same place being that they were cousins and all.

Every step hurt but Alice was so used to the pain that she continued easily despite it. Slowly, she opened the large oak door and stepped into the quiet hall. She was in a manor, it was obvious by how old and expensive everything looked. The hall was long and decorated with antique vases and moving portraits that looked at her with uncontained curiosity. _Nosey buggers, _she thought to herself as she moved down the hall, her body stiff and prepared for a fight should it come to it.

Alice knew, if she met someone more skilled than herself, she likely wouldn't stand a chance. Casting the Fiendfyre had seriously depleted her magical core and what was left was studiously working on keeping her standing and walking. Not that it mattered, Alice would fight to her last breath if it kept her from being captured and killed.

She found a grand staircase and slowly began her descent, gripping tightly to the marble banister to keep herself from falling. The last thing she needed right now was a concussion to add to her long list of injuries.

She had just reached the bottom step when she heard something croak from behind her.

Alice whipped around, her wand pointed and a shield already raised in case of an attack. Her body relaxed when she spied the large toad sitting a few steps away from her. It was looking at her with an almost bored expression before it turned around and began hopping up the stairs, disappearing down the hall she had just come from.

"Trevor!"

She turned at the sound of the voice, a quick Stupify leaving her wand before she could stop herself. Alice watched with growing horror and guilt as her spell hit a young boy before he was sent flying into a nearby wall. She watched him crumble to the ground in a heap, laying their motionlessly. Although she felt bad, Alice kept her wand raised and had her eyes constantly scanning her surroundings. Seeing no one else, she hesitatingly lowered her shield and cautiously made her way over to the boy.

He couldn't be any more than three years younger than her and looked oddly familiar as she looked over his sandy blonde, almost brown, hair and his pudgy face. "Rennervate," she whispered, watching as the boy sat up with a loud and slightly dramatic gasp.

He took one look at her and her wand before he was screaming for his Nan. Alice tried to shush him, she didn't know if the area was safe and for all she knew there could be Snatchers waiting to capture her and anyone found with her. Her mind hadn't fully caught up with what was happening yet to realise that most manors had been burnt to the ground in the beginning of the third wizarding war.

She heard rapidly approaching footsteps and turned her back to the boy to face the newest threat. Alice threw up another shield, making sure to extend it to the boy, before she sent a quick Stupify at the elderly woman who had rushed into the large foyer. Her eyes widened as she watched the woman easily deflect her spell before she lowered her wand in a gesture of peace.

"If it is all well and good with you, dear, I believe you've frightened my grandson," the older woman said in a voice that managed to be both gentle and firm. Her eyes were slightly narrowed, her aged face showing caution and concern as she looked Alice over.

Alice hesitantly lowered her shield and watched as the boy scurried over to his grandmother. Her eyes darted around, cataloguing every possible exit she could find in case she needed it.

"Alice?"

Her head snapped to the elderly woman as her name reached her ears. The boy was no longer in the foyer and Alice wondered where he had gone; was he okay? Even with her magic depleted, her spells were still reasonably strong. She was slightly scared she might have hurt him; even if she was only defending herself, Alice drew a line at hurting children, they all did.

"How-" she began, only to fall into a fit of coughs. She only just realised how dry her throat was. Alice was an excellent dueller, which meant she was well versed in non-verbal and wandless magic. Because of this, Alice hadn't actually realised just how dry her throat was.

A glass of water was shoved into her line of sight and Alice eyed the glass wearily. The older woman seemed to understand her hesitance and Alice watched as she raised the glass to her lips and took a large mouthful before swallowing and handing the glass to Alice. Now that she knew it wasn't poisoned, Alice greedily drank the cool water, sighing as it soothed her parched throat.

"How did you know my name?" she asked when the glass was drained of water, watching the older woman take it from her before it disappeared from her hand.

"A family tree spell," the woman answered, motioning for Alice to follow her. Alice was thankful that the woman didn't tell her to put her wand away. She was also grateful that the woman didn't touch her; she didn't know this woman and Alice knew better than to be fooled by appearances. "Yours is quite interesting," she continued as they walked into a large sitting room.

Alice didn't say anything as she was led into a smaller sitting room. She was motioned over to a plush cream sofa and sat down gingerly, her wand still tightly grasped in her hand. As she sat down, Alice threw a look around the room. It was simpler than the rest of the house but no less beautiful. There were two cream sofas and more oak furniture; a coffee table between the two sofas, a wine cabinet, another bookshelf, and a small desk. In the corner of the room was a grand piano that had been charmed to play music and Alice felt her body relax into the sofa as Tchaikovsky filled the room.

"Dipsy," the older woman called, a small house elf appearing barely a second later. "Can you please prepare us some tea and a bowl of soup for Alice," she said.

"Yes, mistress," the house elf replied eagerly before she popped away.

Silence fell for a moment before the older woman looked at Alice, the younger girl meeting her gaze unflinchingly. "I find it unnecessary and a waste of time to 'beat around the bush' as the Muggles say," she began firmly, "my name is Augusta Longbottom and according to your family tree, I am your great grandmother."

Alice knew the time-turner was designed to take them back to their closest blood relative but it was still a shock to know she was sitting in front of her great grandmother. Her mind rushed through the last twenty minutes or so and Alice came to a mortifying conclusion. She placed her head in her hands, feeling her face grow hot from embarrassment. "I just stupefied my father, didn't I?" she questioned, already knowing the answer. James wasn't going to let her live this down.

Augusta Longbottom cracked a smile, "you certainly did, my dear," she teased lightly.

"Great," Alice muttered, "my first meeting with my father involves me knocking him out."

Her rambling had cold dread filling Augusta, who watched the girl continue to mutter to herself. "What do you mean by 'first meeting', Alice?" she asked firmly, the smile long gone from her face.

Alice looked up, her face emotionless. "My father died before I was born," she replied monotonously, "my mother died two years later."

It had been the answer Augusta had been afraid of. Whatever future this girl had come from was one where her grandson was dead. "How did he die?" she asked, her voice cracking a little on the last word.

"It's a long story," Alice told her softly.

"I have time," Augusta replied in a tone that brokered no arguments, she wanted answers and she _would _get them.

"I'd much rather show you," Alice answered, knowing that the women in her family were stubborn and not to argue with them. "Do you have a pensieve?" she asked.

Augusta nodded, "there's one in my late husbands' study, we can go there once you've eaten." Augusta didn't like how thin her great granddaughter was, when Dipsy had changed her earlier, the house elf had come to Augusta, positively distraught as she explained the condition the teenager was in.

"_I's could see her ribs, mistress," _she had cried, _"and she is covered in scars; so many scars!"_

"I came back with two others," Alice explained as she took careful mouthfuls of the soup Dipsy had brought to her, "James Potter and Rose Weasley."

"I only found you," Augusta explained, "even if they had come with you, they wouldn't have been able to get through the blood wards."

"I know," Alice replied, "we stole a special time-turner from the Department of Mysteries," she continued, ignoring the raised eyebrow Augusta sent her way. "It was designed to go back decades if need be and would send the wearer to their closest blood relative. It could have sent us to our mothers or our fathers and I guess we already know who it sent me to. James and Rose are cousins and I was hoping they might have ended up together, James was hurt and I'm worried about him."

"I can contact Molly Weasley and see if any teenagers have mysteriously appeared in her home," Augusta told the distressed teenager, "can she know the details of how you all came to be here or would you like me to keep that information to myself?"

Alice shook her head, "she can know, but our parents can't know who we are. We fractured the timeline coming back, completely erasing the future, but if we're lucky our parents could still find their way to one another."

"And if they don't?"

She shrugged, "I'm not sure," she answered honestly, "Rose was the one that did all the research on this kind of stuff. James and I planned the missions."

"May I know how far into the future you're from?" Augusta questioned.

Alice was quiet for a moment as she did the math. If her father was eleven, she wouldn't be born for another thirteen years. "Almost thirty years," she answered.

"Very well, I will inform Mrs Weasley of the situation and stress the importance of this being kept secret. I'm sure Dumbledore won't mind helping us-"

"No!" Augusta jumped, startled by the loud exclamation. She looked at Alice, who was flushing brightly as she stared down at her half empty bowl of soup. "You can't tell Dumbledore," she continued, "he can never know who we are and what we know."

"My dear, Dumbledore is a great wizard-"

"-I'm not saying he isn't," she interrupted, ignoring the reprimanding glare the older woman sent her, "but Dumbledore also has a habit of compartmentalising everything for 'the greater good' and he wouldn't hesitate to use us to give himself a leg up in the future. Please," she stressed, "he can't know."

"Than who can?" Augusta asked, curious to know what had happened in her great granddaughters' life to make her the young woman that sat before her now.

"Molly, Arthur, Bill, Charlie, and Percy Weasley," Alice began listing, "you, Minerva McGonagall, and Andromeda and Ted Tonks."

"So, few?" Augusta asked.

Alice nodded, "they're all I know."

It was said so morosely that Augusta simply nodded and left the room, going to fire call the aforementioned people.


End file.
